Monday, July 06, 2009

Some News for Mon Jul 6

Note from US Soccer: "All four [Group B] teams traveled together (from Seattle to DC), as well as referees, CONCACAF officials, etc. Yes, on the same plane!"

ARGENTINA

We have a Clausura winner amid mass chaos!

dN

Match:-Sun Jul 5Velez Sarsfield 1-0 Huracan

Final Clausura standings:40 Velez Sarsfield38 Huracan

dN

Amazingly the championship race came down to two teams the final weekend of the Argentine season, and those 2 were matched against each other! What were the odds?

dN

Velez overtook Huracan on that last day, getting a win at home with a controversial goal in the 83rd minute. They had missed a Penalty Kick in the first half. The goal scorer Maximiliano Moralez was given his 2nd Yellow Card for celebrating the winning goal, and was ejected. Do you think he really cared at that point? I doubt it! The controversy stemmed from a collision between another Velez player and the Hura keeper seconds before the shot was taken to score the winner. Boy oh boy, it sure looked like a foul to me!

3. Freddy Adu/Stuart Holden/Charlie Davies - excellent offense, with lots of great attacking movement and passing, and all three got a goal.2. Logan Pause/Kyle Beckerman - did a masterful job controlling the middle of the field for all 90 minutes by stopping any potential attacks, and starting all the USA offense. Pause even set up the third goal with a perfect long cutting pass to Rogers.1. Robbie Rogers - played a near perfect game by setting up the first two goals, and then scored the third. Just what we needed to see from a left sided midfielder.

Grenada put up virtually no guard against the USA. It was a sad game for them, but a complete domination for the USA. Great start to the tournament.

dN

All 4 attacking starters for the USA got goals - both forwards and both attacking midfielders. That is the way you want to play.

dN

Grenada had only one shot on goal, which forced Troy Perkins into a strong save.

dN

Stuart Holden, Logan Pause and Brad Evans all got their first International cap for the USA.

The Colorado Rapids pulled off a rare coup this weekend and set an attendance record. 19,680. I know it was due to their annual Independence Day fireworks show, but it was a full house none the less. Too bad they got punked by the Fire.

dN

Alecko Eskandarian was sold to the LA Galaxy just this week, got his first start on Saturday and scored only 9 minutes into the game, to give his team a 1-0 win over New England. Welcome to your new team.

dN

Word has come to me that Yura Movsysian is nearing his end in MLS. He is said to be signing a pre-contract with Randers FC in Denmark. What is not known is whether they are buying him from the league or he is leaving when his current contract is done (I don't know when his contract expires though.) Let's see what happens. This would be a big loss for Real Salt Lake.

dN

Seattle has signed Costa Rican left fullback Leonardo Gonzalez from Liberia Mia. He had played his entire career until this past January at Herediano in CR.

dN

Former Colorado, Columbus & New England assistant coach John Murphy has a few words with the Scottish Sun about his new job as head coach of Livingston. Very cool for him. People all around the MLS really like this guy. A big problem remains though in that Livingston is broke, and money to keep the club alive does not appear to be at hand (Article from the BBC).

Do you want to see Bozo Bautista in MLS? He sure would be a nice distraction, but is he any good any more? 3 years ago would have been a lot better.

USL FIRST DIVISION

My Thunder fought their way back in a fairly miserable game to tie Portland 1-1 in second half stoppage time. Captain Jeremiah Bass, who got into the attack more than I have seen him this entire season, bagged the winner on a scramble after a corner kick in the games dying seconds. The team celebrated like it was the game winner. That shows you how rough this season has been. I felt great for the Captain who kills for this team through thick and thin.

dN

Big shout out to Aaron and his Missus who I met on Saturday night after the Thunder game.

Former California Polytechnic State University & Ventura County Fusion defensive midfielder Anton Peterlin has signed the ultimate deal for a young American, and goes from no one to Everton! What a great story. His college paper theMustang Daily has the story.

5 Comments:

As to the Clausura winner, chaos is an understatement. What was up with the ref not calling the Velez Sarsfield player running into and kicking the Huracan keeper? He never ever got ball, just kicked the keeper. They the Velez Sarsfield player gets taken out and the ref again calls nothing even though he's got blood running down his face from the wound on his head. Craziness and poor officiating! Talk about letting a game get out of control.

The funny thing about that Argentine game is that none of the news reports I have read even mention the foul on the keeper or the brawl. Just weird. I have no idea how the ref does not make that call in the box.

Not only did Colorado get punked by the Fire, but the fireworks malfunctioned, and the show only lasted 6 minutes or so. The July 4th game is one of the few guaranteed draws for them, but most fans left with a bad taste in their mouth. Not exactly a banner night for the Rapids organization.